Fergie's Chewing Gum - November 4
Premier League
Here’s a good blanket rule for footballers: Try avoid red cards. Both Manchester United and Aston Villa learnt that the hard way this weekend.
United first, they travelled to the Blue side of town for the Manchester Derby. City were without David Silva and coming off of back to back losses, while United were missing Falcao and a few defenders, though Wayne Rooney returned.
It was a really entertaining game, predictably open at both ends and but for the increasingly typical heroics of David De Gea, City would have led early on. Man Utd had a few chances too, RVP having one saved and Adnan Januzaj volleying wide however the game changed entirely when Chris Smalling picked up two silly yellows in the space of seven minutes and United were down to 10 men.
City came alive and completely dominated for the next half an hour or so. They had a few penalty shouts declined and the goal finally came when Sergio Aguero turned in the impressive Gael Clichy’s (a late replacement starter) cross with his usual clinical finishing. Man U came back into things after that, pushing hard for an equaliser despite the numbers and despite Marcos Rojo having to be subbed off after falling hard on his shoulder. Wayne Rooney made a magical run but got shut down, Angel Di Maria and RVP had a few chances that didn’t come off, there were crosses that couldn’t be finished and some quality Joe Hart saves. 1-0 the final score, a valiant effort from United who’ll be wondering what might have been with an even allotment while Manchester City claim a much needed morale booster.
Not enough to get them ahead of Southampton though, who narrowly edged past Hull thanks to an early Victor Wanyama goal from deep after Hull’s GK Eldin Jakupovic got caught off his line. Chelsea are four points clear at the top following a 2-1 win over QPR. Diego Costa returned though the goals came via Oscar and Eden Hazard. Charlie Austin equalised in between the two. Chelsea travel to Liverpool next week.
Arsenal cruised past Burnley 3-0 with a double from Alexis Sanchez to move up to fourth ahead of West Ham, who had to come from 2-0 down to draw with Stoke. Winston Reid came off injured, and Alex Song was lucky not to be sent off in the lead up to the first WHU goal. Liverpool, meanwhile, fell 1-0 to a resurgent Newcastle. A few weeks ago Alan Pardew was imminently about to be sacked, this week he’s beaten Man City (in the League Cup) and Liverpool both.
West Brom held off Leicester for a 1-0 win, Everton and Swansea were trapped in a 0-0 stalemate and Crystal Palace lost 3-1 at home to Sunderland. And that Aston Villa thing? Well, they were up 1-0 over Spurs when Christian Benteke reacted angrily with a hand to Ryan Mason’s face and that earned him a red card. Spurs went on to equalise through Chadli in the 84th and then Harry Kane put the winner in from a deflected free kick right at the end.
La Liga
Hey, Barcelona lost again.
Nah, seriously, they went down 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo, though they definitely had enough chances to turn that results around. The CV keeper, Sergio Álvarez, made a number of top saves and Neymar and his shots became pretty well accustomed to the woodwork. Joaquín Larrivey scored the winner after a gorgeous back-heeled assist from Nolito. That was the first goal Barca had conceded at home in the League this season and their first home loss in all competitions. Luis Suarez has lost both games he’s played in.
That was a massive blow for the Catalans, who fell from first to fourth in the space of a week. Real Madrid, Valencia and Atletico Madrid all won to overtake them, while Sevilla could have passed them too had they not lost away to Athletic Bilbao. Alvaro Negredo made his second appearance of the season (both off the bench) in Valencia’s 3-1 win at Villareal, Atletico’s victory was a 4-2 show against Cordoba in which Antoinne Griezmann was superb and Real Madrid predictably destroyed Granada by 4 goals to nil, James Rodriguez with the pick of the bunch. Real are first by a point, and Gareth Bale is almost ready to return…
Bundesliga
Jurgen Klopp reckons Borussia Dortmund are slowly turning things around. He’d better hope so. It’ll take a lot before the club are willing to dump the man who turned them into German contenders, who took them to a Champions League final, but if he’s trying to test them he’s going the right way.
A 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich is nothing to freak out over, yet when it extends your streak of league games without a win to 7 and drops you to second to last on the table (and only off bottom by goal difference) then, yeah, there’s reason to panic. Marco Reus had given Dortmund a lead in the first half, which they held for a while despite Bayern dominating shots and possession as is always the case.
But then Dortmund old boy Bobby Lewandowski scored and in the 85th minute Arjen Robben drove a dagger into the guts of BD fans with a winner from the penalty spot.
Elsewhere there was a big 4-0 win for Wolfsburg over Stuttgart, keeping them in second place with their fifth win in a row. Borussia M.Gladbach are staying tight too victory against fourth placed Hoffenheim while Bayer Leverkusen dropped one away to Hamburger SV 1-0. Werder Bremen finally won a game as well.
Ligue 1
PSG continue to creep on up the Ligue 1 ladder as they handled business with a 2-1 win over Lorient. Unfortunately for PSG, the leaders Marseille also had a 2-1 win over Lens to get a nice 4 point buffer. Edinson Cavani got on the score sheet for PSG, pegging a goal back to make it 1-1 before some joker called Jean-Christophe Bahebeck got the winner for PSG. Marseille almost did it with ease jumping to a 2-1 lead but a red card to Alaixy Romao get Marseille fans a sketchy finish.
Lyon and Bordeaux both had wins to round out the top 4 with Bordeaux in 4th ahead of St Ettienne on goal difference. The big news out of France however is former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder Claude Makelele getting the cut as coach of Bastia. Bastia currently sit 2nd to last and have won 1 of their last 5 games. Poor Claude, he'd only been coach for 6 months as well :(
Serie A
The great Miroslave Klose gave Lazio a 4-2 win over Cagliari to move them on up to 3rd behind Roma and Juventus. Roma slipped up a little as the lost to Napoli 2-0 which gave Juve a bit of a lead at the top of the ladder. Juve had a win and a loss over the round but still sit on 25 points with Roma back on 22.
Sampdoria hold strong in in 4th with an exciting win over Fiorentina 3-1. They'll have to continue to play well as they have AC Milan, Napoli and Inter all within striking distance.